resort photography vs. offsite photography

so i have been REALLY checking out everyones posts as far as bringing in a photographer, or using the resort photographer .... EVERYONE has such varying opinions .... so, since we have not quite made up our mind .... here is what we are wondering .... what we are looking for is a good amount of pictures, along with a slideshow (to be able to show at our hometown reception which will have nearly 300 guests), and a dvd of the wedding, to be able to show at the reception as well ... we have been checking out diana campbell mostly for the fact that we know she does ALL of this, and we have seen her work, she just HAS NOT emailed us back yet with any pricing (does anyone have her rates, and what is or is not included, and does she pay any portion of the $500 resort fee).... and as we have seen pictures from the resort, and they are nice as well, to help us with our decision, we are wondering if anyone got a dvd of their wedding and would be willing to share it to make a comparison to .... the only remarks we have seen on here as to the resort dvd, is that itis sort of "cheesey" , we would like to see what exactly that means in order to opefully help us make up our minds .... resort or diana campbell

Csa

We were married @4pm @CSA in the gazabo on 2/27/09. We used the resort photographer and he was wonderful. He spent 2 hours with us, we finished just before 6pm. 350 pics to chose from. We have garden and beach pics all of which are very beautiful and professional. Joy

Sportylady - a few more wedding pics.

Hi Mary,
Just watched your wedding slideshow - very, very nice! Congrats to you and Julio.
I'm sorry we didn't get to meet you at CTI. We were there 4/27 - 5/4. We just got around this week to going through our pics from the week. We were walking by when we realized your wedding was about to take place. I recognized you two from the pic you posted on the board earlier. I snapped a few pics and posted them in our online photo gallery here: http://pixafari.smugmug.com/Vacation...71316445_9GpGB
I'm sure you enjoyed your trip. We had a truly wonderful time also.

We used Diana Campbell and are so happy we did! Her and her son do an amazing job and it is worth the extra money! If you talk to her she will customize a package for you that fits your budget! check her out, she is worth the money and you will not regret it! We are excited to have the slideshow to show at our post reception in 2 weeks and I know everyone will love it!

We chose to have Misha Earle do the photography for our wedding, and very glad we did! She is amazing! We are in our 40s and I am not very photogenic. Our pics are amazing.
My son and his girlfriend had a photo shoot with the resort photographer and thought he was ok, but not the quality you would expect for your wedding.
I would reccomend spending the extra money and hiring the best. After all, this day is one of the most important days of your life!

Hi beacher5778
We used Misha Earle for our wedding at CTI back in March and she did an amazing job! I would use her again in a heart beat. I think you can skimp on a lot of things for a wedding but photos are not one of them. Misha was worth every penny.

We used Paula and Damian of Sungold. I'm not sure if they still do weddings at Couples. That was back before the vendor fee.
They were awesome and we're so happy we went with outside photographers. We ended up with over 700 images on a DVD to do with as we pleased. Having lots is exactly what we wanted. I made up our own slideshows to MY choice of music without any effects (I find those cheesy personally), and had photobooks made that I designed. For us the photos are memories we'll have forever so it was absolutely worth every penny (although they were reasonably priced).